Like a lot of us, I decided to buy some acrylic tokens, range ruler, and movement templates. So, back in late February/early March, started looking around at the various third party dealers for the style I like and a reasonable price. I purchased my movement templates and most of my tokens from appliedperspectives.com ( http://www.appliedperspective.com/acrylic/ ) and highly recommend them. Excellent quality, very fast shipment, and, best of all, very quick and helpful communication.

However, to my chagrin, I decided I liked the Ion tokens, shield tokens, and range ruler from CorSec Engineering ( http://corseceng.com/ ) and have come to regret this decision.

First, the good. After about two weeks, I received box. It wasn't quick, but not slow either. Fine. I open it up... no range ruler. In fact, the box was far too small for a range ruler. I count the tokens; they are all there (and it should be noted, look and play as good as hoped). But no range ruler. The invoice says it was, but there was no note, nothing indicating a second shipment and, as I stated, a range ruler would have been too long for the box.

So, I email them about it, asking if it was an oversight or if there was a second package. Wait a couple days, no response. Send a follow-up. Wait a couple days, no response. Send a third follow-up, this time promising to go to PayPal if I wasn't addressed. IMMEDIATE RESPONSE. Now, this is a huge red flag, but the money's spent. At this point, just trying to recover what I have already paid for. I get a story about how the laser cutter's been broken, they have a backlog, but it should be fixed soon and they'll get right on it. Fine, I say, noting that if they had simply bothered to: 1, include a note in the box; 2, put a note on their website; or 3, respond to either of my previous emails, they would have shown they gave a crap. I cut them some slack (small business and all) and let it go.

A week passes. No update. I find out, unfortunately, that a friend of mine ordered some stuff through them, got the same song and dance. He starts the email chain of WTF and likewise gets no response for several passes until they finally start giving him the same song and dance about backlog, etc., only this time it's the power supply that's down, not the cutter.

Another week passes. My friend finally gets his stuff after he threatens to go to PayPal unless given a shipping tracking number. The package ships immediately. He gets it, it's fine, but he's understandably annoyed. I send another follow-up and I get a response back basically saying that they still haven't gotten their power supply, but should soon and begin working on backlog. Now, something is obviously B.S., as my friend just got his stuff (ordered at least a week after me, but arriving before me), so clearly the guy can produce product again. So, he's just flat out lying and not shipping for whatever reason.

Fine. I take the higher road. It's not a huge deal. Yet, another week passes. No communication, no shipment. I send a final warning. No response. As far as I know, I don't think I'll ever get the product and frankly, I'm as likely to dump it in the trash if I do.

So, now, I have begun the process of a PayPal dispute. I don't even want the guy's product at this point and no longer care if his problem is legitimate or not. Things happen, it's a hobby and not urgent, so if he had simply been communicative and truthful, no hard feelings if he's hit technical difficulties. But the way he conducts his business, being shady and non-communicative, telling different stories, shipping when only pressured... frankly, it gives me a bad feeling and I don't want to support his business in the least and I'd hate for one of you to run into this same situation.

My sole purpose for this post: I highly recommend NOT PURCHASING FROM CORSEC ENGINEERING . Period. The tokens I received were fine, but the aggravation I have gone through for 12 inches of goddamn acrylic are not worth it, particularly when there are much better options. I highly recommend both the product and service from appliedperspectives.com , so if you are in the market, I suggest you go there instead.

Do they accept credit cards as payment? If you order on a credit card and don't receive the merchandise, then you can pretty easily dispute the charge. Not that this helps your situation.

Having been working for a new small business for almost the last 6 months (I was one of the first 10 employees, now we have 30), I can attest to just how severely minor setbacks impact your overall ability to do business. This business took off faster than either of its owners could've hoped. Despite our best efforts, we are STILL about 3 weeks behind schedule shipping out orders, and probably 90% of the reason for that is simply not getting OUR supplies on time. We remain ever optimistic about getting caught up in the ever-elusive near future, but it never fails that something seemingly small trips us up and causes almost a week delay. That said, we have one key component that CorSec seems to be lacking: communication. Our customer service department (for whom my wife works) worked their BUTTS off when we were three MONTHS behind and took a LOT of crap from probably every single customer we had at the time. These days customer service issues are more than manageable, but without communication with our customers, I would've been out of a job within a week. Hope your issues get resolved.

First I'd like to say that having a broken power supply is the same thing as having a broken laser cutter.

No power = no cutting = broken!!!

2nd being lax on e-mails is rather poor, so I can understand you pain there

I'll post back if/when it's resolved. I paid through PayPal and they have a pretty aggressive claims resolution group, so I am not concerned. Really, it's about the service, not the, what, $7.99 in product he owes me. Most small businesses are great and you usually get exceptional service from them; it's their edge over large businesses who can often sell cheaper. Mostly, this is about steering people away and towards other vendors that seem to be customer-focused. Hit them up instead.

It sounds like you have taken this a bit too personal. I've dealt with core sec several times and have never experienced anything like your chronicle. Not every business are at their best every moment of the day it sounds like you caught them at their worse.

It sounds like you have taken this a bit too personal. I've dealt with core sec several times and have never experienced anything like your chronicle. Not every business are at their best every moment of the day it sounds like you caught them at their worse.

It sounds like he had a lot of patience, and gave them far more opportunities than I would have. That's not personal, that's just business.

I actually had an incredibly similar experience with an order that was $50+. After 2 months went by and I sent several emails, I was told the last batch was bad and they were waiting for a new one. But I got the distinct impression that they had forgotten I had even filed an order. When it did arrive, parts were missing. Several emails later they arrived but I had to be continually pester. I did a second order, trying to support the small business, and sent a few questions about products. No response. Eventually after two more emails they responded but only to some questions, leaving most unanswered. I eventually just stopped trying.

Also, they sell the telescoping rods as capable to be used with all their bases. This is NOT true. It will not work with the X-wing bases. The necessarily wider base of the telescoping rods prohibits the donut that holds the ship card in place. Obviously the ship card matters because the firing arc is on them. I wrote them after purchasing for use with XWM and they simply informed me it didn't work. No sign of that on the website. They did say if I pushed it it would work, no joy. The whole purchase was essentially a wash. Also, the starfighter bases do not have borders to keep them in place. They sit fine but, unlike the FFG plastic bases, do not have the lip on either side to keep them (and thus the firing arc) stable.

I would have tried to return stuff but it was such a hassle getting a response over anything I just ate the cost. I didn't want to send a dozen emails for one incomplete reply with the added tension trying to return the product for money. The whole thing was so frustrating that I just let it go.

Small businesses that don't value communication and customer service (even for one customer) are in for an uphill battle. One negative review popping up when people Google your company name can do much more than $7.99 worth of damage.

I won't jump to conclusions without hearing both sides of the story, but I hope it's just a hiccup in their business and your issues are resolved soon.

It's the 21st Century, there just isn't an excuse for poor communication anymore.

Good to hear your opinion. I love Applied Perspective as well. He has a quality operation going. Do note that it is www.appliedperspective.com . Without the 's'. Cheers!

Thanks for the warning, I won't be buying from CorSec anytime soon. There is no excuse for poor customer service, especially to that extent.

What a hot mess... was eyeing their asteroid bases but will pass given your experience with them.

Thanks for the tip and hope it all works out for you!

I had the same story. Ordered tokens/range ruler/dial. Almost two months later received the items which came in the mail but only after (18 + emails, waiting for weeks for responses to those emails, and finally escalating the case with Paypal). Items are nice but compared to the hassle and head ache I would go with another site.

Couldn't agree more. I have been waiting for over a month now for a range ruler and movement templates. Sent then two emails in the past week that have not been answered. They have Until next Wednesday before I contact PayPal. Super unhappy and disappointed in their customer service (or lack thereof)

This is why I love that my venue sells Litko stuff. Don't have to internet shop to buy it and I can support the FLGS.

I do hope this gets resolved. Those are my favorite non-FFG shield token designs, and I'd like to get a few sometime.

I ordered from Cog of 2 and had an issue of my order simply never arriving, after about four weeks (I gave it a lot more time than I normally would because it was shipping internationally)... but when I sent them an e-mail, they completely jumped on it and offered to send me a replacement at no cost. Fantastic service from them.

(The irony is that the day they were going to ship the replacement order USPS "found" my package, so I had to quickly get the new order cancelled.)

I'm the friend mentioned in the OP, and I have to agree with the bottom line: CorSec makes a great product, but they seem wildly half-assed in their approach to every other facet of their business.

My main gripes were that A) they'd only respond to emails which included threats/ultimatums regarding paypal disputes, and B) they couldn't even be bothered to keep their lies straight (I was told that everything had been printed and would ship the next day... that the laser was broken, they hadn't printed anything, but they might be able to make small runs of stuff if I wanted to make another order... that the laser was broken in another, unrelated way... that they might be able to outsource some of their backlog... etc.).

Applied Perspective, on the other hand, responded to emails within the hour, shipped promptly, and were utterly professional in every way.

Applied Perspective has excellent quality and above all great communication...They even do custom engraving...They will not yank your chain , or give you the runaround either...

Hello,

I just picked up my package from CorSec Today after reading this post yesterday. I was hoping I was going to be able to write a 100% positive review... But no, there was a slight problem.

I was sent an email last week saying my order, including 2 range rulers, there asteroid stands and the template/deck holder had shipped. But when I open the box this is what I see.

No template/deck holder and and no paperwork telling me about my order.

After reading this post my wife decided to go straight to paypal. We heard from CorSec immediately afterwords. They said they were sorry and that they would get a replacement out in the next few days and that they were a bit backed up.

It took about 40 days to get to me, which was fine with me. I live in Canada.

The range rulers are nice. No complaints here.

The asteroid bases are awesome and the main reason I placed my order. I totally recommend them.

I can't report on the bad communication since I never felt the need to email them. I just assumed the order was going to take a while, plus I've been busy and lost track of time.

So in the end I still recomended there product, it just looks as though it might not go as smoothly as you might like.

Now I just need to find time to make my asteroids, I can't wait!!! :-)

Is Corsec the new Hotz?

Is Corsec the new Hotz?

Hardly. There are only 3-4 'main' suppliers of acrylic templates, etc. Cor Sec is just the one to avoid...

@Bhunter46 you know 40 days is quite long for shipping things, i live in Quebec and my Cog O' Two order took a whole 2 days to arrive from the day i got a shipped email.

Applied Perspectives gets my business every time. Easy ordering, great communication, shipped on time with no errors.

Jim